Heatherdene, Hope, and Castleton

I travelled to Heatherdene this morning, on the bank of the Ladybower Reservoir. I started taking photographs as soon as I got off the bus and continued to do so until I reached the woodland on the other side of the dam wall.

The smell of the pines and the autumnal dampness was quite calming as I climbed up through the woodland and then used a path I'd not used before to get to Hope Cross, providing me with some different views of The Great Ridge.

I looped round to Edale End, went south for about a mile and then turned right heading for Losehill Farm and the way to Castleton. However, when I reached an area known as Townhead just to the north of Hope there's a footpath shown on the map, but there's also a chained up gate and no sign of the path. So I had to backtrack and go along the road for a few hundred yards, entering the fringes of Hope until I found the next path going across the fields to Castleton.

I had time to pop in to the Peak Hotel, billed as 'the Peak District's eccentric alehouse' and take a photo of one of the regulars.